Here I sit drinking my mocha at my favorite coffee shop. Pondering what I should write. I watch the barista’s fix other customers their favorites. Should I write about all the different ways to fix a good cup of coffee. Maybe I should write about the different types of coffee beans and how to roast them. Then I overhear two baristas talking.
“Are you okay, you seem down, today”
“I’m kind of bummed out. We live in a trailer, and we don’t have any electricity.”
“Why are you living that way?”
“Things just worked out that way.”
“What happened?”
“My boyfriend and I have been living together for about a year. They raised our rent. We couldn’t afford to live anywhere else.”
“Doesn’t your boyfriend work?”
“Yea, at a fast-food restaurant. Still the two of us don’t make enough to qualify for an apartment.”
“What about going in on a house with another couple?”
“That is an idea. As much as I don’t like the idea, it maybe the best option.”
Hearing them talk made me feel somewhat anal. I don’t write about my living condition. I do get into a state of depression, because I rent a basement room, in a house with five other guys. What I pay for rent is the same I paid for a two-bedroom apartment before the pandemic. After hearing the two barista’s talk make me think I should be more thankful for what I have.
What I overheard from the two barista’s is not unusual. Over the last couple of years, sky rocketing rents have forced a lot of people young and old individuals alike are forced to live in situations much less than the American dream.
A short time later a white-haired gentleman walks into the coffee shop. He orders his weekly coffee treat. He comes over. We talk.
He shares a house with three other people. He takes care of the yard around the house as part of his rent. One of the other housemates cleans the owner personal house as part of her rent. All of them just very make ends meet.
I see the two baristas struggle. I have to ask, “Why must rents have to be so high?” Are all these landlords taking the pandemic as an excuse for excessive profits?”
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